Law - Children's Rights & Family Law - LLM

You will work with scholars who have a track record of outstanding scholarship on legal issues relating to children and the family.

You will have the opportunity to become involved in UCC’s innovative Child Law Clinic where you can provide research assistance to lawyers on real cases, helping to make a contribution to the quality of advocacy on children’s issues, and lobbying for the reform of child law and children’s rights.

Applicants for the LLM (Children's Rights and Family Law) Degree also have the option of registering for a Postgraduate Diploma in Law (Children's Rights and Family Law). Students take 60 credits of taught masters’ modules from those on offer for the LLM (Children's Rights and Family Law). The Postgraduate Diploma can be completed over 9 months full-time or 18 months part-time.

This shorter programme may be attractive to legal professionals and others who may prefer not to make an initial commitment to a full master’s programme. Graduates of the Postgraduate Diploma may further progress their studies by completing a 15,000-word research dissertation and graduating with a Masters in Law (LLM).

Modules
Full-time: Students take 90 credits.
Part-time: Students take 90 credits over two years. In Year 2, students take LW6569 and any core modules not already taken in Year 1.

Core Modules
You will take 60 credits – 50 credits of core modules and 10 credits of elective modules.
LW6652 Legal Research Methods in Writing (5 credits)
LW6659 LLM Dissertation (25 credits)

Taught Modules
LW6507 Comparative Family Property Law (5 credits)
LW6563 Child Law in Practice (10 credits)
LW6568 The Family and the Law (10 credits)
LW6653 Family Law Clinic or LW6654 Child Law Clinic (10 credits)
LW6655 Contemporary Issues in Children's Rights (5 credits)
LW6656 Foundations of International Children's Rights Law (5 credits)
LW6658 Juvenile Justice (5 credits)

Elective Modules
LW6592 Mental Capacity Law (5 credits)
LW6609 Mental Health Law (5 credits)
LW6619 Alternative Dispute Resolution: Processes and Practice (5 credits)
LW6634 Refugee and Forced Displacement Law (10 credits)
LW6614 Family Law Clinic (5 credits)
LW6615 Child Law Clinic (5 credits)*

*The Clinic module chosen as a core module may not be chosen again.

It may be that not all modules listed above will be offered in any particular session and/or other options may become available.

Note: In certain cases, with the permission of the Programme Director, students may elect to take 5 credits from the list available for the LLM Degree (other than those listed above) in substitution for 5 credits of the elective modules listed above.

In order to ensure a reasonable distribution of workload, when choosing modules for all programmes, students should take a balance of credits between Semester 1 and Semester 2. Students who wish to deviate from this rule must seek permission from their Programme Director.

To be accepted on this course, you must be approved by the School of Law.

You will also normally have:
(a) A Second Class Honours Grade I in a primary honours Law degree (NFQ, Level 8) Or
(b) Have such other relevant third-level educational qualifications and/or professional experience as, in the opinion of the School of Law, qualifies the candidate under Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) to undertake the LLM (Children's Rights and Family Law) Degree.
If you are an overseas candidate, you are welcome to apply and your qualifications will be considered on a case-by-case basis as above.

Closing Date
Rolling deadline. Open until all places have been filled. Early application is advised.

You will be examined by continuous assessment throughout the year and your dissertation must be submitted in September. To view individual module assessments in the Book of Modules

1 year full-time, 2 years part-time.

Start Date: 9 September 2024

Skills and Careers Information
As the only qualification of its kind in Ireland, graduates are uniquely qualified in the areas of child law and family law. As well as allowing legal professionals to specialise in these areas of legal practice, graduates of this degree are well equipped to work anywhere in the children’s sector – with government departments and agencies (in education, child protection, youth justice etc.), with non-governmental organisations (both nationally and internationally), or other bodies who work with children. Few statutory or children’s organisations have staff with legal expertise in the child and family law area and this is a significant gap in the sector.